Method of welding



Sept. 4, 1934. A. LONGORIA METHOD OF WELDING Original Filed April 28, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l Sept. 4, 1934. A. LONGORIA 1,972,530

METHOD OF WELDING Original Filed April 28, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wow/ 5 Patented Sept. 4, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,972,530 METHOD or WELDING Original applicationApril 28, 1933, Serial No. 668,980. Divided and this application December 28, 1933, Serial No. 704,322

'3 Claims. (01. 219 10) This invention relates to a method for electrically welding materials, and is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 668,980 filed April 28th, 1933. The invention is well adapted 6 for welding strips of material together and particularly for welding wires of extremely small diameter such as those, which are used in the manufacture of belts that are used on Fourdrinier paper making machines. Considering for example 10 the problem in connection with the manufacture of paper making wires, the only known prior practical methods of joining the ends of the fabric together to make a seam have been to solder or braze the ends of the fabric together, but this involved the use of fluxing material which did not possess sufiicient strength to withstand the wear. Furthermore, the flux would clog the openings and thereby interfere with the drainage, and resuit in a mark on the paper that would be formed directly over the seam.

For years, efforts have been made to join the ends of the fabric by direct fusion of the metal,

but they have been directed mainly to a joint that has been made by the application of heat through the agency of a blow'torch or other gaseous flame. Experience has shown however,

that this method is unsatisfactory, for if the heat is applied an instanct too long, the metal is burned,

while'if it is applied for an insufficient length of time, the seam is imperfect. The difliculty of maintaining the proper rate of application of heat to the fabric will readily be apparent, when it is considered that paper making wires have an average of sixty wires to the inch, and that each wire is approximately ten thousandths ofan inch in diameter. Another consideration is the fact that the wire is made of relatively soft material, such as brass or bronze, and therefore has a low melting point. These factors, coupled with the additional problem of holding the overlapping picket ends in close relationship, have made the use of a torch impractical for seam welding purposes.

Ordinarily, electric welding is considered to be an equivalent of flame welding. I have found however, that such is not the case in the welding of wires of very small size. I have found for example that the ordinary practice of welding with alternating current burns the metal, and I have found that the substitution of direct cur-" rent from a generator or battery not only melted the metal but left it spongy, that is, it contained entrapped gas pockets that resulted in a seem, that was too weak to be practical.

An object of the present invention therefore,

is to perfect a method of electrical welding, which can be used satisfactorily for welding two strips of metal, and practicularly those having a size suitable for use in the manufacture of paper making belts. A further object is to produce a method which can be practiced with unskilled labor, and which does not result in a weld that has the objectionable features of one produced a in the flame process.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a top plan view of 5 part of a web of woven wire fabric with the ends in close proximity to each other, and showing the last weft wire removed from one end of the fab-' ric; Fig. 2 is a section taken on an enlarged scale on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section similar to that in Fig.2 but showing one end of the fabric in a position for welding with reference to the other end; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of part of a completed welded fabric; 5 is a section taken on an enlarged scale on the line 5-5 in Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is a top plan view of a section taken on an enlarged scale on the line 6-6 in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a section taken on an enlarged scale on the line '77 in Fig. 6, and Fig. 8 is a wiring diagram.

I have found that a pulsating alternating current of the usual service supply can be used satisfactorily for accomplishing the welding of strips of metal, such as small wires, provided the current is rectified, then filtered and controlled 5 so as to produce a surge of current only at the desired time and place during the welding operation. This surge is obtained by buildingup a charge of current, and then discharging it instantaneously through the metal to be joined. 99 This method is unlike arc welding, for in arc welding the current flows continuously across a gap as the electrode is moved along the work.

In the present instance the weld is efi'ected by an instantaneous discharge which is accomplished only when the electrode is moved'away from the work. In other words, the apparatus does not permit a discharge of current until contact is made between the work and the electrode,

and permits a sudden and complete discharge 109 only when the electrode is withdrawn from the work. Thus, a weld can be progressively made across a seam by touching the electrode to the work, then lifting it and again touching it at the next point where the weld is desired. My invention is shown in connection with the welding of wire fabric to make a seam for a Fourdrinier belt. Accordingly in Fig. 1, the warp wires are indicated at 10 and the weft wires at 11. The last weft wire at one end of the belt is removed and the picket ends are thus opened. The opposite end of the belt may then be inserted through the openends and the pickets may be bent over so that the warp wires form a continuation of the same wave. Fig. 3 shows the end pickets 10a that have been formed by;

the removal of the last weft wire, while 101) indicates the picket ends on the opposite end of the fabric. While the wires are so held, they are fused together by an electric welding operation. In the preferred arrangement, the pickets 10a overlap the pickets 10b in such manner that as viewed vertically the two wires represent a continuation of one wire. If desired however, the wires may overlap in side by side relationship, or they may be placed in end to end abutting relationship as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

The welding apparatus which I utilize includes a transformer A, which has a primary P that is connected acrossthe usual alternating current service line, and has a secondary Swhich preferably comprises four'coils that are arranged in side by side relationship. The transformer is preferably the shell type, wherein the primary is wound on a core that forms that middle leg of a closed magnetic path, while the secondary is wound around the primary. The pulsating current is then rectified, preferably with a full wave dry rectifier B, there being one rectifier for each secondary coil, and the rectifiers are connected in series to the secondary coils. The rectified current is then filtered by suitable filters such as choke coils C and D, that are placed on one side of the line between condensers E, F and G. The filtered current is then further controlled by a high inductance filtering unit H and a resistor J. The inductance of the unit H however is higher than the combined inductance of units C and D. At the output end, the positive side of the line is connected to a conductor plate K on which the work is laid, while the negative terminal is connected to an electrode which is shown as a needle-like member having an insulated covering that sufiices for a handle.

The welding operation is performed by laying the work on the plate K aligning the picket ends as hereinbefore described, and progressively making contact on the picket ends and pressing them together with the end of the needle L, and then lifting the needle and repeating the opera--' tion with the next set of picket ends. When contact is made between the needle and the wire, a circuit is completed through the work, and a charge is built up in the condensers E, F, G. Then when the needle is raised, the current in the condensers is instantaneously discharged and the weld is thereby made.

The apparatus which has just been described is suitably balanced electrically to produce a weld that will not burn wire of the size that is used in the manufacture of Fourdrinier belts. For example, I have'found that satisfactory results can be obtained in the welding of fabric wherein the warp wires are approximately nine thousandths of an inch in diameter, and where- -in the weft wires are approximatelyten-thousandths of an inch in diameter, if the various parts of the apparatus have the following characteristics. Assuming an input of -volts alternating current, the primary winding of thetransformer A can have 120 turns of two layers of sixty turns each of No. 17 cotton enameled wire while each secondary can be wound in three layers aggregating 14% turns of No. 17 cotton eled wire. The first layer of the secondary may have six turns, the second-five turns, and the third three and three-quarter turns. The rectifiers B can be purchased in the open market as dry rectifiers having a rating of twelve volts and six amperes each. The condensers E and F each may have a capacity of six hundred microfarads while the condenser G has a capacity of twelve hundred microfarads. The filtering units, or choke coils C and D are rated at three henries at a full load of six amperes, and are low inductance coils, while the unit H is a high inductance coil of approximately 25 henries at a full load of six amperes.

I have found that for best results the resistor J must be non-inductive and non-capacitive. I have made a resistor of this type by bending a length of wire intermediately, and winding it in the form of a single layer coil by starting at the bent portion, and maintaining the adjacent turns out of contact with each other. The ends are then connected in the circuit, as shown in the wiring diagram while a sliding contactor M is connected across the unit H as shown. The contactor at all times bridges at least two turns of the wire. The resistor may be a nickel copper alloy, such as that which is known in the trade as Advance wire and may be made of No. 32 wire. The resistor stabilizes the filtering unit H during the welding operation, and provides the adjustment that may be necessary. to compensate for the difierence in thickness and kind of wire to be welded. Additional adjustments may be made by the use of taps on the primary of the transformer A, as shown in the wiring diagram in Fig. 8.

An electric apparatus of the. characteristics described produces a maximum of forty-eight volts no load at the output end, as compared to an input of one-hundred ten volts. It is to be understood however, that I may adjust the.electrical characteristics to vary the output in accordance with the physical characteristics of the metal to be welded.

An important advantage of my invention is the fact that I have produced a method by means of which strips of metal and particularly wire of approximately ten thousandths of an inch in diameter may be welded without requiring skill on the part of the operator. This result possesses extremely important advantages, for it thus produces for the first time, so far as I am aware a Fourdrinier belt wherein the seam is electrically welded merely by the fusion of the metal that comprises the warp wires.

I claim:-

1. The method of electrically welding small sized wires, comprising placing the wires to be joined in contiguous relationship, closing a circuit through them, regulating the constants of the circuit so as to maintain current through the wires sufiiciently low to avoid burning of the metal or imparting objectionable physical characteristics thereto, during such closure, and then breaking the circuit at the point where it was closed, whereby the wires are welded solely by the fusion of the metal.

2. The method of electrically welding small sized strips of metal comprising laying the strips to be joined upon a conductor, arranging a movable contactor in circuit with the plate, pressing together the parts to be joined with the contactor,

whereby a current is caused to fiow from the cuit sufiiciently low to avoid burning of the strips, 15%

strips of metal comprising closing through the work to be welded, a circuit, the constants of which maintain a current through the work sufiiciently low to avoid burning of the metal during such closure, and which stores suflicient electrical energy to produce a weld upon breaking of said circuit at the work, whereby a weld is efiected by fusion of the metal.

ANTONIO LONGORIA. 

